Greg Inglis fires as Brisbane Broncos hammered

A RED-HOT Greg Inglis bagged a hat-trick, including another classic try, as firming premiership favourites South Sydney almost certainly buried Brisbane's 2014 season under a painful 42-16 scoreline in Sydney last night.

Brisbane led 6-0 early after Justin Hodges cashed in on a Ben Hunt grubber kick in the 11th minute. But all that did was fire up Inglis as Souths responded with 24 unanswered points in 25 minutes to lead 24-6 at half-time.

Inglis smashed his way over for a try in the 15th minute and then repeated his freakish 85 metre try at Suncorp Stadium, which sank Brisbane in round eight, with an equally brilliant effort after leaving three Brisbane defenders on the deck fielding an Adam Reynold's bomb.

He then off-loaded to Englishman Sam Burgess before backing up to score the try of the match.

The only downside for Souths in the big win was forward Ben Te'o, playing his 150th NRL game and heading off the Irish rugby club Leinster next year, being placed on report for a second half chicken-wing tackle of Brisbane forward Sam Thaiday.